Paralympians will get the same pay as Olympians in the Tokyo Olympics. It will be the first time this has happened at an Olympic Games. The move was revealed by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee months after the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. 2018 Paralympic medalists earned retroactive pay increases as a result of the decision; the Tokyo Olympics will be the first to adopt pay equity from the start.
The delayed 2020 Olympics began on Friday and ends on August 8. The Paralympics will begin on August 25 and end on September 5.
“Paralympians are an integral part of our athlete community and we need to ensure we’re appropriately rewarding their accomplishments,” USOPC Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said in 2018 when the announcement was first made.
“Our financial investment in U.S. Paralympics and the athletes we serve is at an all-time high, but this was one area where a discrepancy existed in the funding model that we felt needed to change,” she added.
According to the International Paralympic Committee, athletes would now get $37,500 for each gold medal, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze, raising remuneration for certain Paralympians by as much as 400 percent.
According to The New York Times, paralympic competitors formerly got $7,500 for each gold medal, $5,250 for silver, and $3,750 for bronze. Following the committee’s decision, more than $1.2 million was distributed to the 2018 Paralympic medalists.
The value and worth of Para athletes finally viewed equal to Olympics
“As I was reading this tears literally were streaming down my face not only because of the equal pay for @Paralympics medals to @USParalympics athlete but the value and worth of Para athletes finally viewed equal to @Olympics,” Para-Nordic skiing champion Oksana Masters tweeted at the time of the 2018 decision. “This is absolutely LIFE changing @TeamUSA thank you.”
The United States celebrated the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is a landmark civil rights statute that outlaws discrimination based on disability. The Tokyo Games started their fourth day on the same.
Many Paralympians and their supporters applauded wage equity. Others chastised the USOPC for refusing to allow Becca Meyers, a six-time Paralympic medallist from the United States. It was when she could not bring her mother to the Tokyo Games as her personal care assistant.
Meyers, who is deaf and blind, said the committee had allowed her mother to be her PCA since 2017. But due to COVID-19, there are present “limits of non-essential staff in place”. She added: “Rightfully so, but a trusted PCA is essential for me to compete.”
